Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

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WL2034
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Joined: Tue May 21, 2013 10:36 pm

Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by WL2034 »

Hi Bogleheads. I'm planning to make an approximately $10k purchase in the next month or so, and am trying to find a good CC bonus. Airline miles would be the most useful reward. The cards I'm thinking about so far are the Chase Sapphire Preferred (45,000 points) and Barclays Arrival Plus (40,000 points). Any experiences with these or other cards that are particularly good deals at the moment? Thanks!
master36
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by master36 »

What are you purchasing? Or what category is the purchase in?

Depending on the category, some cards may give better bonuses than others.
Topic Author
WL2034
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by WL2034 »

master36 wrote:What are you purchasing? Or what category is the purchase in?

Depending on the category, some cards may give better bonuses than others.
It will be a vacation package, so travel category?
master36
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by master36 »

Yes, one other question would be how do you value your points? are you looking for immediate cash back, or are you willing to hold on to them and use for travel again in the future?
master36
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by master36 »

Check out thepointsguy.com. It's a blog dedicated to maximizing travel points.

Chase Sapphire Preferred May be a great option.

45,000 bonus, plus 20,000 for spending $10K (2pts for travel). That would essentially yield you 6.5% back on that one purchase.

Another great perk that they just announced is travel insurance. There are some restrictions, but if you happened to get injured or sick, they will cover the trip for up to $10K.

Read all about it here: http://thepointsguy.com/2014/07/chase-s ... -dividend/
jeff1949
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Location: Salem, OR

Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by jeff1949 »

will34 wrote:Hi Bogleheads. I'm planning to make an approximately $10k purchase in the next month or so, and am trying to find a good CC bonus. Airline miles would be the most useful reward. The cards I'm thinking about so far are the Chase Sapphire Preferred (45,000 points) and Barclays Arrival Plus (40,000 points). Any experiences with these or other cards that are particularly good deals at the moment? Thanks!
I had good luck with the Chase Sapphire Card so that would be my recommendation. It's especially good if you redeem your points for Southwest Airlines miles but even if you do not it is still an excellent deal IMHO. With a $10k purchase you will end up with 55,000 points which is good for $550 cash or 55,000 SWA miles.
LFKB
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by LFKB »

You should definitely do the Chase Sapphire card. You'll get the 45k bonus points then 21,400 for booking the travel (double points on travel plus 7% points dividend). If you are booking a hotel, you can also get 5 extra points per dollar if you book through the hotels.com link on the Sapphire Ultimate a rewards website. The ~66k points or more you'll receive will be worth $660 in cash back or approximately $1,300 worth of a southwest flights or 66k United Miles (there are additional travel partners as well). The points are great because they are so versatile. Below is the link to apply.

https://applynow.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/r ... 46%20#spon
Topic Author
WL2034
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by WL2034 »

Thanks a lot for the tips, I think I will go with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. My wife actually already has that card and got the bonus earlier this year. We use Southwest often, so those points are quite valuable to us. It looks like the 7% dividend is no longer available for new sign-ups, but I think this will still be the best option. The rental car coverage and trip insurance is a nice added feature.
mlipps
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by mlipps »

Another to consider is the AA Executive card. I think the minimum spend on the Chase Sapphire is pretty easy w/normal spending, while AA Executive, not so much. $450 annual fee (not waived), $100 statement credit, and 75k miles after $7,500 in spending (down from 100k for $10k spend earlier this year). Pretty sweet deal. But, if you're paying for this big trip now maybe you don't have any other major travel in your future, so YMMV.
Diogenes
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by Diogenes »

mlipps wrote:Another to consider is the AA Executive card. I think the minimum spend on the Chase Sapphire is pretty easy w/normal spending, while AA Executive, not so much. $450 annual fee (not waived), $100 statement credit, and 75k miles after $7,500 in spending (down from 100k for $10k spend earlier this year). Pretty sweet deal. But, if you're paying for this big trip now maybe you don't have any other major travel in your future, so YMMV.
Unless you have serious and regular heavy amounts of business spending it would be foolish to pay $450 a year for any CC.
Even then it would continue to be unnecessary, in my opinion.

I second guess my Chase Sapphire each year because of the $95 fee. Mainly I keep it around as I travel for extended periods outside the States and they rebate international transaction fees, which can add up easily.
2stepsbehind
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by 2stepsbehind »

Diogenes wrote:
mlipps wrote:Another to consider is the AA Executive card. I think the minimum spend on the Chase Sapphire is pretty easy w/normal spending, while AA Executive, not so much. $450 annual fee (not waived), $100 statement credit, and 75k miles after $7,500 in spending (down from 100k for $10k spend earlier this year). Pretty sweet deal. But, if you're paying for this big trip now maybe you don't have any other major travel in your future, so YMMV.
Unless you have serious and regular heavy amounts of business spending it would be foolish to pay $450 a year for any CC.
Even then it would continue to be unnecessary, in my opinion.

I second guess my Chase Sapphire each year because of the $95 fee. Mainly I keep it around as I travel for extended periods outside the States and they rebate international transaction fees, which can add up easily.
No one says you have to keep the AA card or Sapphire Preferred beyond the first year. If you are primarily concerned about forex benefits, you should get a no-fee capital one card unless you consistently spend ~$3167 abroad annually.
It is a pity the OP didn't get the executive AA card while it was 100k for $10k with a $200 statement credit, making it effectively a $250 card for 100k miles and free lounge access, but depending on his location/travel plans the 75k offer mlipps mentioned might still be worth it.
OP--can you split up the transaction? It might be nice to get several cards given the amount you will be spending. Although a number of travel bloggers push the sapphire preferred, the ink bold/plus cards at 50k points for 5k spending is likely a better deal. That said, Sapphire Preferred in addition to Capital One venture and Barclay Arrival Plus are worth considering as they each offer 40k points for ~$3k spend.
johnny847
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by johnny847 »

I'd definitely check some blogs about credit card rewards because some people have this down to a science. That being said, another good one I've heard about is the Barclay Arrival+ (the 2x card) gives 40k bonus miles + 2 miles per $1, so you'd end up with 60k miles. It sounds like a bit less than the Chase card. What's interesting about the Barclay card (not sure if the Chase card does this) is that you earn 10% miles every time you redeem your miles, so your earnings rate is actually 2.2 miles per dollar in the long run.
mervinj7
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by mervinj7 »

I also second the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. If you are using it for travel, it's a minimum of 2x on the purchase. In addition, with the new changes, you get $10k of travel insurance on most trips as well as primary car insurance for rentals.
The next question to consider is how you plan on redeeming the points. For example, redeeming 50k points on the Barclaycard gives you a $500 credit (plus 10% bonus) for a travel related purchase on your card. However, with the CSP card, you could transfer 50k points for 50k United miles which gives you TWO roundtrip tickets within the lower 48 states. To me, 50k United miles are always worth than $550 of credit. If you don't like United, they have other transfer partners including Southwest, British Airways, and Hyatt.

Some details regarding the recent changes to trip insurance, rental car insurance, and loss of the 7% dividend bonus:
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/07/chase-s ... -dividend/
sesq
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by sesq »

I would imagine whomever is selling the package is happy to do split payments. So get both. Or get both and have your wife get an arrival card also and split the payment 3 ways. More, more, MORE!
hackermb
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Re: Best Current Credit Card Bonus for $10k Purchase?

Post by hackermb »

Depending on if southwest has their 50,000 bonus point program running when you get your cards and if Southwest flys out of your city they imo have the best deal.

Get 2 credit cards, must be different type, which upon putting 2000 dollars on each gives you 100,000 points bonus plus the 4,000 points for the dollars you spent. The next 6,000 dollars you spend gives you 6,000 points. You have now hit110,000 points in a given year which gives you a free companion pass for the remainder of that year plus all of the next year.

So now you have 110,000 points about 3-4 coast to coast round-trips for you and free flights for your companion to use in the next 1.5 years. Obviously the best time to hit the 110,000 mark would be in january so you get 2 whole years of your companion flying for free.

We have flown from Indianapolis to Las Vegas, Denver, and San Diego this year all for free and with using the card I still have 80,000 points which is another 3 flights.
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